History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time, Part 93

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120

USA > Nebraska > Gage County > History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time > Part 93

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

what had been the Otoe Indian reservation. Odell was not in existance. The old town of Charleston had been located, but in later years it was abandoned. The old site of Charleston and land on which William Le Gourgue founded the town now belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Krotz. Mr. Krotz has seen the wild, unbroken prairie develop into beautiful homes and farms, and in this splendid trans- formation he has done his full share.

THOMAS REMMERS was a vigorous and ambitious young man of twenty-three years when he came to Gage county, in the year in which Nebraska was admitted to statehood. None has borne with greater fortitude and determination the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer life on the western frontier, and it is gratifying to record that the passing years have brought to him a gen- erous measure of prosperity. He accumulated and developed a fine landed estate in this county and continued his active association with farm enterprise until 1906, since which time he and his wife have lived retired in the city of Beatrice, in enjoyment of good health and the gracious rewards of former years of earnest endeavor, their attractive home being at 1009 High street.

Mr. Remmers was born in East Friesland, a district in the extreme northwestern part of the province of Hanover, Germany, and the date of his nativity was September 16, 1843. He is a son of John and Catherine (Henrechs) Remmers, and his father followed farm enter- prise and operated a brick yard in East Fries- land until financial reverses overtook him, and in 1868 he came with his family to America. Near the city of Springfield, Illinois, he and his adult sons found employment in a harvest field, and while thus engaged he suffered a sunstroke that caused his death. In the autumn of the same year (1868) the bereaved widow came with her six children to the new state of Nebraska, and later she became the wife of John Eilers, the closing years of her life having been passed at Sterling, Johnson county, where she died in 1883, when about

sixty-three years of age. For generations the earnest religious faith of the family has been that of the Lutheran church.

Thomas Remmers acquired his youthful education in his native land and was twenty- two years of age when he came to America, the family following two years later. After passing a few weeks at Springfield, Illinois, he came to Nebraska. He arrived at Ne- braska City on the 4th of July, 1866, and later in the month he joined a freighting outfit with which he made the arduous overland trip to Fort Laramie and Denver, as driver of an ox team. He arrived once more in Nebraska City in the middle of the following November, and he then found employment at farm work, at fifty cents a day and board, he having been nine dollars in debt when he first arrived in Nebraska City. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Remmers came to Gage county and entered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of untrammeled prairie land, in Han- over township. His first house was a rude dug-out, which later gave place to a log house, and in the latter he continued to maintain bachelor's hall until his marriage, in 1871, to Mrs. Sophia Day, widow of Benjamin Day. Mrs. Remmers was born in Hanover Ger- many, in 1845, a daughter of John and Maria Yelkin, and she was a child of eighteen months when the family came to the United States and located near Springfield, Illinois. She was there reared to the age of twelve years and then came with her parents to Nebraska City, the family home later having been established on a pioneer farm in Nemaha county, where she was reared to adult age and where she became the wife of Benjamin Day. Mr. Day died a few years later, leaving his widow with two children,- John, who is now a resident of Adams, Gage county, and Ida, who is the wife of Frederick Schuster, of Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Remmers have five children: Henry, John and William are all prosperous and representative farmers in Han- over tonship; Mary is the wife of Harms D. Harms and they reside on her father's old homestead farm, in Hanover township; and Catherine is the wife of Frederick Damerow,

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

a successful farmer residing a few miles south of Beatrice.

In their primitive pioneer home Mr. and Mrs. Remmers bravely faced the hardships and privations of the early days when they were striving to make their way forward to- ward the goal of prosperity, and their de- voted companionship has continued during the long intervening years. In taking his young wife to the new home Mr. Remmers used a wagon and ox team. He finally provided one horse, but had no buggy. He later traded oxen for another horse, and the harness for the new team consisted only of hames and chains. From his farm he took a quantity of butter to Lincoln, where he sold the same for a sufficient sum to enable him to buy a har- ness for his team. The little log cabin con- stituted the family domicile many years, and though humble it was the abode of happiness and known for its hospitality. Coffee was made ready for use by pounding the same into fragments, but eventually the household was provided with a coffee-mill. Indefati- gable industry and good management brought cumulative success to Mr. Remmers and even- tually he became the owner of a valuable farm property of eight hundred acres, all of which he has sold to his children with the exception of forty acres, which he still retains.

Mr. Remmers was one of the honored and influential citizens of Hanover township until he and his wife removed to Beatrice, and he was called upon to serve in various positions of public trust. He was township assessor five years, tax collector three years and served many terms as road overseer. During the long period of his residence on the farm he only twice had to call for the ministrations of a physician for himself, and he and his good wife are now hale and hearty, and in the gracious twilight of their long and earnest lives find that their lines are cast in pleasant places. Both are active members of the Ger- man Lutheran church and in a fundamental way he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party. Mr. and Mrs. Remmers have been true apostles of social and industrial progress in Gage county and here their circle of friends

is limited only by that of their acquaintances. Mr. Remmers related that in 1868, when his nearest neighbor was two miles distant, four Indians called at his home and demanded pro- visions. He supplied them and they then took their departure.

JOHN E. CARSTEN .- Measured by its rectitude and worthy achievement, the life of the late John E. Carsten counted for much, and his character was the positive expression of a strong and noble nature. He established his home in Gage county nearly half a cen- tury ago, did well his part in developing the resources of this section of the state and in supporting civic progress. He reclaimed and improved one of the fine farms of Clatonia township and was one of the substantial and influential citizens of Clatonia township, he having removed from his farm to the village of Clatonia about three months prior to his death, which occurred July 15, 1908, and his widow still maintains her home in that vil- lage,- one of the gracious and revered pioneer women who bore her full share in the trials and struggles of the early days.

Mr. Carsten was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, on the 24th of February, 1843. He was the eldest of five children born to John M. and Gesche (Eschen) Carsten, the latter of whom died in Germany and the former of whom passed the closing period of his life in Gage county, Nebraska. The subject of this memoir was reared to the discipline of the farm and gained in the schools of his na- tive land his early educational training. In 1866, as a young man of twenty-one years, he entered the Hanovarian army and assisted the Germans in their conflict with Austria and participated in various engagements, including the battle of Langensalza. He completed his military service before the close of 1866, and in the same year immigrated to America, em- barking in the port of Bremen and landing in that of New York city about three weeks later. Continuing his way to the west, he located in Schuyler county, Illinois, in which state he continued his association with farm enterprise until 1873, when he came with his

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

family to Nebraska and became one of the pioneers of Gage county. From the Burling- ton & Missouri River Railroad Company he purchased, at seven dollars an acre, one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie land, in Section 11 Clatonia township, four and one-half miles northeast of Clatonia. He developed his farm, made the best of im- provements on the same, adding eventually to the area of his landed estate in Clatonia town- ship. He lived up to the full tension of pioneer experience and in making his way to the goal of independence and material suc- cess he ever attributed much of credit to the earnest cooperation of his devoted wife, who was a veritable helpmeet and who re- mained his cherished companion until the close of his life. Mrs. Carsten owns the attractive home which she occupies in the village of Clatonia and also an interest in the two Gage county farms which are now operated by her sons.

At Rushville, Illinois, on the 12th of March, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Carsten to Miss Mary Schmid, who was born in Germany, on the 1st of February, 1847, and whose parents, Jurgen and Etta (Golden- stein) Schmid, there passed their entire lives. Mrs. Carsten was reared and educated in her native land and was a young woman of eigh- teen years when she came to the United States, in the autumn of 1866. She establish- ed her residence in Illinois and there she and her husband remained until after the birth of their first two children, who accompanied them in 1873 to Nebraska and were reared to maturity in Gage county, where were born the younger children. George J., eldest of the children, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, on the 24th of February, 1869, and is now a resident of Stockton, Kansas, where he fol- lows the vocation of farming; Lillie G., who was born July 15, 1873, was an infant at the time of the family removal to Nebraska, and she is now the wife of Harry Hersema, of Clatonia township; Arthur E., who was born August 16, 1876, is a resident of Mountain View, Oklahoma; Mary Anetta, Born April 12, 1879, is the wife of J. H. Claussen and

they reside in Danforth, Illinois; Theodore Frederick, born January 31, 1881, is engaged in the banking business at Hallam, Lancaster county, Nebraska; Alvin Benjamin, who was born October 27, 1882, resides upon and has the active management of the old homestead farm, in Clatonia township; and Emma F., born June 29, 1885, remains with her widowed mother.

John E. Carsten was progressive both in his individual activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower and also in his civic attitude. His course was guided and governed by the highest integrity and he commanded the un- qualified respect and confidence of all who knew him. He was zealous in giving to his children the best possible educational advan- tages and was influential in community af- fairs. He was a Republican in politics, and he was called upon to serve as assessor of Clatonia township, as a member of the town- ship election board and as a member of the school board of his district. He was a most earnest and active member of the German Methodist Episcopal church of Clatonia town- ship, of which he was one of the founders and of which he served many years as a trustee, his widow continuing an earnest member of the same religious organization. The name of Mr. Carsten merits enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of Gage coun- ty and his memory is cherished by those who came within the compass of his unassuming and kindly influence.

JOHN TJADEN. - The march of civiliza- tion has ever been westward, and in reviewing the career of John Tjaden one is impressed with such trend of advancement as manifested in the individual person. Mr. Tjaden's par- ents, Harm and Antgie (Fahsler) Tjaden were born and reared in Germany and about the year 1870 they left their native land and came west to America, first settling in Mis- souri and later in Richardson county, Nebras- ka. Here Harm Tjaden engaged in farm en- terprise and later he removed to Marshall county, Kansas, where he purchased land and continued his farming activities. His wife

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

died in February, 1913, and since 1917 he has lived retired in the city of Beatrice, Nebraska. Of the family of ten children eight are living: William, George, and Flora reside in Kansas, where Flora makes her home with her broth- er William; Henry resides at Wymore, Gage county, Nebraska; Margaret is the wife of J. J. Remers and they live in Kansas; John is the subject of this sketch; Anna, the second of the name, is the wife of W. C. Ehnen, a farmer of Barneston township; Emma is the wife of John Ubben, and they live in Kansas ; and Anna (first of the name) and Meta are deceased. Harm Tjaden is a Republican in politics. He disposed of his land in Kansas and Nebraska and is now retired from active life, to enjoy the reward of his past labor as a pioneer of Nebraska and Kansas.

John Tjaden was born December 31, 1879, and received his education in the district schools of Kansas. From his boyhood he has been identified with agricultural pursuits - first in his apprenticeship, during which he was employed as a farm hand, and later in conducting operations on his own land.

February 12, 1902, John Tjaden married Miss Rena Agnes Ehnen, who was born Jan- uary 4, 1883, in Illinois, the daughter of Rempt Ehnen. Mr. and Mrs. Tjaden became the parents of four children, of whom three are living : Eleanora Meta was born September 12, 1911; Harm Wilke was born February 21, 1916; Relma Rosella was born January 14, 1917 ; and Relma Antgie, died at the age of three months.

John Tjaden owns two hundred and eighty acres of land in Gage county and eighty acres in Kansas. He is a vigorous and progressive young farmer and is devoting all of his time to his successful industrial. enterprise. In 1914 he built a beautiful farm house on his home place, in Section 33, Barnston township, and he has thus provided an attractive home for his family, besides giving evidence of his progressiveness and definite prosperity. It is his earnest desire to give to his children good educational advantages and also the refining in- fluence of an ideal home life. In politics Mr. Tjaden is independent. He and his wife hold

membership in the Lutheran church. He is a member of the Farmers Union, an organiza- tion which has in its membership the best ele- ment of the yeomanry of the county and which is doing much in promoting the advancement and best interests of the farmers of Gage county.

ADDISON P. KELLEY, who is the effi- cient and popular manager of the general-de- livery department of the postoffice in the city of Beatrice, was born at Marengo, McHenry county, Illinois, April 16, 1855, and is a son of Henry D. and Roxcey A. (Sponable) Kelley, the former a native of Danby, Rutland county, Vermont, and the latter of Eden township, Seneca county, Ohio, their marriage having been solemnized in McHenry county, Illinois, where Mrs. Kelley's parents settled when she was eight years of age. Henry D. Kelley was reared and educated in the old Green Moun- tain state and was twenty-one years of age when he established his residence in Illinois. In that state he continued his association with farm enterprise until 1872, when he came with his family to Nebraska. Later he took up a homestead claim in Phillips county, Kan- sas, where he improved a good farm and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. Kelley became one of the prominent and influential citizens of Phillips county, was a successful exponent of farm in- dustry, and served for a time as postmaster of the village of Myrtle. His political alle- giance was given to the Republican party and his wife was an earnest member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. Concerning their children the following brief data are available : George C. is deceased, John died in infancy ; Frank is a successful carpenter and contractor in the city of Beatrice; Addison P., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Wil- liam D. is a prosperous farmer in Morgan county, Kansas; Jennie C. is the widow of Ray P. Foy and resides at Beatrice, her two children being Mrs. Taylor M. Cain of Ogden, Utah, and Charles H., who is a railroad man, residing at Laramie, Wyoming; May, next younger of the children of the Kelley family,

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is the wife of W. E. S. Kuhn, of Fort Mor- gan, Colorado; and Edson M. was killed in a railroad accident, when about thirty-two years of age. Daniel Kelley, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in Rutland county, Vermont, and passed the closing years of his life at Prospect Park, Illinois. The maternal grandfather, Christopher Sponable, was born in Ohio and became a pioneer set- tler in Illinois, in 1832. He became a man of wealth and influence, accumulated an exten- sive farm property in Illinois and at one time was the owner of eleven acres of land lying adjacent to Wabash avenue in the city of Chi- cago - property now of prodigious value.

· Addison P. Kelley acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of McHenry coun- ty, Illinois, and in 1872 he came to Gage coun- ty, Nebraska, where he found prompt requisi- tion for his services as a teacher in the dis- trict schools, his pedagogic career having been initiated when he was eighteen years of age. In Gage county his professional services in- cluded a year of successful teaching in the schools of Beatrice, he having taken prepara- tory normal study at Vinton, Iowa. His am- bition was to fit himself for the medical pro- fession but upon the death of his father he was thrown upon his own resources, besides assisting in the support of his widowed moth- er and the younger children. On the 1st of September, 1894, Mr. Kelley began his serv- ice in the Beatrice postoffice, with which he has since continued his connection without in- terruption and in which he now has charge of the general-delivery department, his advance- ment having been won through efficient serv- ice and his long experience making him an authority in connection with postal affairs in Beatrice and its various rural mail routes.

In politics Mr. Kelley is a staunch Repub- lican, he holds membership in the Centenary Methodist Episcopal church in Beatrice, and is prominently affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic fra- ternity, in the former of which he has passed the official chairs not only in the lodge but also in the encampment body.

In 1904 Mr. Kelley wedded Miss Mary

Nicodemus, who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and whose death occurred in 1911, no children having been born of this union.

LEWIS RATHBUN was born in Henry county, Illinois, June 8, 1861, and is a son of James Rathbun, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Reared on a farm in his native state, he was a young man of twenty-two years when he came to Gage coun- ty. He has always been engaged in farming and is now operating one hundred and sixty acres belonging to his father. He is prac- tical in his methods and meeting with the suc- cess which always comes to the man who is industrious.

Mr. Rathbun was married to Miss Anna Hebel, a native of Bohemia, Germany, and a daughter of Joseph and Mary Hebel, who are mentioned elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Rathbun are the parents of six children: Bertha is the wife of Joseph Kasparek, of Odell; Lee is in the national army, at Camp Pike; Elmer is married and lives at Anamosa, Iowa ; and Ar- thur, Jesse, and Genevieve are at the parental home.

Mr. Rathbun is a Democrat. He has been road overseer for ten years, and a member of the school board for seven years. He is also a director of the Cemetery Association. His home is in the corporate limits of Odell.

OWEN L. SAVAGE clearly manifests his progressivenes in his effective management of his well equipped meat market in the city of Beatrice, and the efficiency of the service has gained to the market a substantial and repre- sentative supporting patronage. This well or- dered business establishment is located at 513 Ella street.

Mr. Savage was born in Putnam county, Illinois, on the 25th of August, 1862, and is a son of Hiram and Angeline (Angle) Savage, both of whom were born and reared in Penn- sylvania, where their marriage was solem- nized and whence they removed to Illinois, in which state they maintained their residence until the spring of 1868, when they came to

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the newly admitted state of Nebraska and numbered themselves among the pioneer set- tlers of Gage county. They located on an unimproved and not large tract of land, near the present village of Dewitt, where they es- tablished their residence on the 21st of March, 1868, and the father began the reclamation and improvement of this farm, on which he continued his operations until 1875, when he removed with his family to Beatrice, which was then a mere village. Here Hiram Sav- age served for many years in the office of con- stable and he was the incumbent of this posi- tion at the time of his death. He died when about seventy-one years of age and his wife passed away when she was about the same age, both having been members of the Meth- dist Episcopal church and his political support having been given to the Republican party. The father of Hiram Savage was born and reared in Pennsylvania, of Irish lineage, and he sacrificed his life while serving as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war, he having been killed in an engagement near Cottonwood Grove, Arkansas. Of the eight children of Hiram and Angeline Savage four are living: Milo is a resident of Seattle, Washington ; Owen L., of this review, is the next younger ; Nancy Ellen is the wife of Schuyler Jackson, of Beatrice; and George W., who resides at El Paso, Texas, is a passenger conductor on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The subject of this sketch was a lad of five years at the time of his parents' removal to Nebraska, and he was reared under the con- ditions and influences of the pioneer days, his early educational advantages having been those of the public schools. He was ten years old when the family home was established in Beatrice, and as a youth he here attended school during the winters, and in the summer seasons gave his attention to the herding of cattle on the prairies. In the establishment of Bradt Brothers he finally learned the butcher's trade, and he worked in the meat market of this firm for eighteen months, be- sides having been employed about one year on the ranch owned by the brothers. Finally he engaged in the meat-market business in an

independent way and he is now one of the veteran representatives of this important line of business enterprise in Beatrice, his market having been conducted in the present location since 1910 and the establishment being defin- itely metropolitan in appointments and service.

In 1886 Mr. Savage wedded Miss Emma Jackson, who was born in the city of Roch- ester, New York, and whose parents came to Nebraska about 1870, she being a daughter of the late William Jackson, a resident of Thayer county at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Savage became the parents of four children, of whom only one is living, Pearl Lorene, who is the wife of William H. Schwartz, the latter being associated with Mr. Savage in the conducting of the meat market. Mr. Savage and his wife and daughter are all active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he is a Republican in politics, is a loyal citizen who takes deep interest in com- munity affairs, and he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights & Ladies of Honor, the Royal Neighbors and the Royal Highlanders. His success repre- sents the concrete results of his own efforts and he is one of the representative business men of the Gage county metropolis.

HENRY RICE. - An honored soldier of the Civil war and an early settler of Gage county is the subject of this review, and by his own efforts he has made the success that en- ables him to spend the evening of life in well earned rest from active labors.

Henry Rice was born at Hagerstown, Mary- land, September 20, 1842, a son of Henry and Hannah (Friedly) Rice, who likewise were natives of Maryland, the father having died June 30, 1842, about three months before the son Henry was born. Henry Rice was but little past two years of age when he was be- reft also of his mother. He then fell to the kindly care of an aunt, Catherine Rice, by whom he was taken to Ogle county, Illinois, and there reared to manhood. He attended the public schools, which education was sup- plemented by a course in Rock River Semi- nary, at Mount Morris, Illinois. He was a

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History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time, Part 93

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company Number of Pages: 1120

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120